Page 100 of Cross & Crown

Julian was hanging his head, his knuckles turning white

as he grasped the railing. Nick was still murmuring to him, an

arm draped over his shoulder.

Julian finally raised his head and took a deep breath. “Of

course,” he managed. He turned around, and Nick carefully

stepped away from him, giving him space. “I apologize for my

outburst. If you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to bed.”

“Cross,” Nick said before Julian could retreat down the

stairwell. Julian stopped. “I’ll hunt them down like he was

mine. I promise.”

Julian locked eyes with Nick, his expression unreadable.

He descended the steps without another word, leaving the

rest of them in an awkward silence.

The sun had set on them, the flickering of several citronella

lanterns and the soft glow of the quaint café bulbs Nick always strung along the flybridge in the summer the only remaining

light.It was incredibly romantic, bobbing out in the harbor,

the city of Boston twinkling in the distance. Kelly just wished they were alone instead of sharing the yacht with three other

men and breaking up fights and hunting treasure and this was

bullshit. Hell, they might as well have called Sidewinder in

and slept in puppy piles on pool floats like they used to.

JD seemed to be trying to catch his breath as Julian

disappeared down the steps and closed the hatch behind him.

“Oh God,” he whispered. “Is it possible I’m the one who . . .”

Nick trudged back over to his seat and flopped down. “It’s

best not to linger on that just yet.”

JD had a hand over his mouth, and he looked positively

ill. He finally cleared his throat and asked, “How do you not

linger on that? How?”

“I have some Valium,” Nick offered.

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